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30. Aug. 2022
Ester Jarour from CEITEC Masaryk University has been hired as an expert to provide consultancy services for preparing the implementation of the planned ERC Science Journalism Initiative by the European Research Council Executive Agency (ECREA). The purpose of the planned ERC Science Journalism Initiative is to improve mutual understanding between researchers and the science journalism community while respecting journalistic independence. The pilot project titled Masaryk University Science Journalism Initiative should prepare the ground for the new ERC grant. The pilot project was launched in August 2022 and will be implemented at Masaryk University within the next nine months.
The draft ERC Work Programme 2023 was adopted by the Scientific Council earlier this year and transmitted to the European Commission for approval. This draft programme includes a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) grant called the ERC Science Journalism Initiative. Through this CSA, the ERC intends to support an organisation or a consortium of organisations to set up funding schemes to facilitate 3-5-month-long stays of journalists at research institutions. The purpose of the action is to improve mutual understanding between ERC-funded researchers and the science journalism community while respecting journalistic independence.
In advance of the implementation of this initiative, the ERCEA would like to obtain evidence-based analysis, advice and recommendations on the science journalists’ stays at ERC Host Institutions (HI). And this is what Ester Jarour was contracted for. Her task will be to test the planned Science Journalism Initiative at Masaryk University in a shorter one-month-long mode and to draft a comprehensive report for the ERCEA. This report will provide practical recommendations and material to guide ERCEA in its future management of the ERC Science Journalism Initiative. This information will increase the capacity of the ERCEA Communication Unit to manage and oversee the implementation of the future CSA relating to the Science Journalism Initiative, apart from strengthening ERC and ERCEA relations with the hosting institutions and journalists.
The Masaryk University Science Journalism Fellowship supports a month-long stay of a foreign science journalist at Masaryk University. The incoming foreign journalist, who is expected to join us in Brno in October 2022, will have a unique opportunity to dive into the real world of science, become a valued member of the MUNI scientific community, and explore the scientific process and emerging technologies first-hand. At the end of the journalist’s stay, there will be a joint workshop on science communication for scientists from Masaryk University and local science journalists. This fellowship will provide space for knowledge exchange between an experienced foreign science journalist and the entire MUNI research community.
“It is a great honour that Masaryk University and CEITEC have been selected to pilot this new ERC Cost Support Action grant. And for all of us at Masaryk University, it is also a great opportunity to improve our science communication skills, to learn the art of storytelling, and to share the fascinating results of our hard work beyond the borders of the Czech Republic,” concludes the rector of Masaryk University Martin Bareš.